


a hundred men on mars

by eruthiel



Category: The Monster Hunters (Podcast)
Genre: 1950s, Ableism, Age Difference, Coming of Age, Daddy Issues, Drabble Sequence, Dyslexia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pre-Canon, Teen Crush, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7049161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruthiel/pseuds/eruthiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a powersteel backstory in ten drabbles. bless the rains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a hundred men on mars

**Author's Note:**

> I almost tagged this Underage, because it's about teenage Roy crushing on young adult Greg, and I wouldn't put it past Greg to exploit that, but it's open to interpretation - nothing explicit. Dyslexic Roy is a sister/daughter headcanon to Autistic Roy buuuut that doesn't really come into it.
> 
> Title sort-of from that timeless classic, Africa by Toto. My stepdad used to think the line was "gonna take a lot to drag me away from you / there's nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do." I also listened to [Elephant Gun by Beirut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWSz_PAfgNc), but it's no Africa.

His father's study is stifling. The boy, hands twisting behind his back, still in his blazer. He's been expelled before, but he knows this is the last time. _I've wasted enough money trying to force book-learning into your ungrateful head. Starting today, you'll become a man._ Yes, sir.All he can see is the carpet under his shoes. _Lord Powers' boy is an up and coming guide. A spell on safari with him ought to give you a taste for it. Have you unpacked yet?_ No, sir. _Good. You're leaving tomorrow_. _Have the maid dispose of that uniform._ Yes, sir.

***

Over Africa, the sky opens up in thousands of acres of blue and the heat is outdoors, exposed knees and elbows, hats pushed back. Even strangers know his face. Reg Steel's boy, spitting image, ready to follow in your old man's footsteps. Bet you're already just as bad as the old devil in more ways than one, hahaha, my lad. Roy grins, nods idiotically and doesn't know what to say. He already looks browner, older, he thinks, more like a hunter. He's getting a patch of stubble on his chin. He's slowly getting used to the weight of a gun.

* * *

Greg isn't a lad. He's like the older boys at school, but more – he has a real deep grown-up voice, with a real deep grown-up laugh. He laughs a lot, at his own jokes, at his own kills, sometimes at Roy, who lies awake in his tent and lets these treasured moments loop in his head. All he wants is to make Greg laugh, smile, say good one sonny, think he's witty, think he's impressive. Greg gives him cigarettes. Roy says thanks, and wishes a lion would attack so he could shoot it in the face and save Greg's life.

* * *

Greg's wisdom is extensive. Don't bother trying to shoot anything before breakfast. Never spend twelve consecutive months on one continent. Don't take your eyes off your wallet in Durban. Never trust a woman, least of all a beautiful one. Stay in your old dad's good books if possible, though he is undeniably a bastard. Only queers and impulsive fools get married. Never be too drunk to keep one eye on the door. Real loyalty is blindly obedient and lasts forever. A runner-up is still a loser. You're nothing until you've had your first lion. Never go anywhere without a gun.

* * *

Dear Father and Mother, I hope your well Im mosty well but have been sick yesterday but will pres on Greg thinks I will be fine only stay out of the sun and keep chin up. its hot but safary is much better than school. I dont even Miss england or school. I know Im to come home but Id stay here if I coud Id like to be a reel hunter and make you glad. I have 0 kills yet Greg says he will make sure I bag a half desent kill be for I leve. from, your Son Roy

* * *

Up to this point, Roy and his peers mostly spoke in terms of Girls (though none of them had ever actually seen one up close). Greg, however, speaks in terms of Ladies, and seems to have done more than just see them. _Let's just say – they love a hunter._ But his voice takes on a tone, and his brow a crease, as if Ladies were a minor but unavoidable annoyance, like mosquitoes. He's impossibly handsome, even unshaven, cursing and sweating in the lunchtime sun. "Dashing," a word Roy once heard his mother use, wistfully, in reference to his father. Unbearable.

* * *

When the tourists go home, Roy joins Greg in laughing at their clothes and inane conversation and bad aim. _A chance for you to have a proper crack at last, my young apprentice. We'll head back to the water hole first thing and see if we can't bag something to impress your old man._ The desert is suddenly intimate and empty, their bodies forced close by the infinite space. For a moment, Roy doesn't give a damn about impressing his old man. He wants the world to stop here, he thinks, as the evening settles in around their tiny camp.

***

Dear Greg, I hope your well Im mostly well but Miss africa alot england is to cold for me now. My Father has never been so nice to me he says my Zebra is very impresive and I am showing promis. I told you were very good to show me how to shoot. Father and Mother are glad you have helped me start becomeing a man. I have asked about comeing back agian soon but I dont no or if you come to england soon visit us. and tell us your new kills. ~~yfrom rou rs~~    ~~your young aprentise~~  roy

* * *

There was buggery at school, yes, and it was fine to call another boy pretty then, yes, wasn't it? (He was pretty at school but nobody ever tried to bugger him.) You got ticked off if you weren't subtle and that was about it, because there was always this sense that it didn't mean anything – like there was one kind of buggery for schoolboys, which was perfectly natural youthful high spirits, and another kind for queers, which was perverted and predatory and could get you locked up. Nobody has ever said any of this out loud – not to Roy, anyway.

* * *

Seeing Greg inside the ivy-locked walls of his parents' house is like finding a lion in the dog basket. He has shaved (except the caddish moustache) and stopped cursing. _I was sorry to hear about your mother, my lad._ Thank you, sir. _Will you take the boy with you on your return? He puts such a strain on our nerves._ Gladly. I'm quite fond of him. _Rather you than me. He may be feeble-minded, but these recent developments are encouraging, eh?_ He'll be a fine hunter one day, sir. _Better than me? Better than you?  ..._ Who can say, sir?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it, leave a comment if you get the chance! <3 Also check out [you could have said no](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4555746), which is another experimental 10-drabble affair about Max and Suki bringing the Monster Hunters together.


End file.
